Addition to those remarks that I made earlier concerning the "abandon ship" message, I do want to address some of the above comments that some have made or questions that were asked.

I think most of the passengers who reported to the vicinity of the pursor' s desk , just wanted to make sure that the captain and crew were safe so we know we would be safe. There were a few "hot-heads" among us who were screaming to be heard. Some made threats and used vulgarity, and yes there were a few with life jackets. I did not see anyone crying but did see fear in many of the faces until the captain arrived.

I think it was more of concern and anger because of the time of the occurance and that they were woken up to this announcement. Some paniced at first , but most were calm in their behavior.

Not everyone responded to the 2nd deck including a friend and his wife whot were traveling with us. They just blew it off as a prank stating that if they heard " passengers prepare to abandon ship" they would have been concerned, alot of others felt that way as well.

There ship i believe had closer to 2000 passengers aboard and not the thousand indicated in the newpaper article.Only a few hundred ( maybe 300) responded which was a smaller ratio as reported and most of the children were left in their rooms while their parents went to get answers. I think if it was more of a panic situation as some have heard, would anyone leave the kids behind?

I hope the crew and the passengers as well, use this as a training excercise and fix some of the problems.

I do regret the person(s) who made the announcement were not apprehended and brought to justice. I was not a NYPD juristiction incident, but more of the coast guard and possibly FBI. occuring where it did.

Again this is my opinion and from my point of view, others may have seen the situation differently as in any other type of incident.

I felt that if there was any problems or hostages, they would be in the bridge not in a cabin or a dining area.

When the planes were hijacked, they went into the cabin to take over the planes, why would they go into any other area then the bridge to take over a ship?

We looked around the bridge for anyone other then the crew and observed the operation of the ship which remained at the same steady speed and course it was traveling, and also heard the communication between the coast guard and the captain.

Of the 8 of us who went to the bridge there was a someone who I believe is a coast guardman on vacation, a retired NYPD and at least two others who have some kind of knowledge or experience in situations and have some ability to know what looks right and what doesn't.

I think it was a teenager. They are the cause of all problems in the world.

O.K....................just kidding, just kidding!!!!!

I'm a little confused. Jim Bragg claims the announcement was not made to the crew cabins yet other people aboard the ship are reporting seeing the crew members running down the hall with life jackets.

Now I suppose not all crew members are in their cabins at that time and the ones who were not in their cabins might have been the individuals seen running the halls. But then again, I would be willing to bet my entire pocket contents they know the captain's voice.

Fears of terrorism came aboard a Carnival cruise Saturday morning as passengers listened to bizarre announcements -- including one for the crew to abandon ship.
A short-lived hoax accounted for the announcements in the wee hours of that morning, the last day of a weeklong cruise with about 2,600 passengers, according to Jennifer de la Cruz, spokeswoman for Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines. The Carnival Miracle had gone to the Bahamas and was then returning to its starting point at the piers on the West Side of Manhattan. "There was an announcement which was a prank, somebody imitating the captain and giving an 'abandon ship' directive," de la Cruz said. At least one guest apparently entered an area with access to the public address system, which is supposed to be locked, when the disturbing sequence of events started about 3:45 a.m., she said. While precise timing could not be obtained Tuesday, the Miracle appears to have been outside of New York, about four hours from its scheduled docking, de la Cruz said. The "abandon ship" announcement roused Laura Molina of West Hempstead from her sleep. "Everybody was scared and confused," she said, as they tried to find out what was happening. "We didn't know what to think. You look out at the balcony to see if anybody was jumping. Nobody was." Terrorism crossed her mind, she said. Laureen Zizzo of Babylon, another passenger, said she was in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. "Any time anything bad happens, the first thought in your mind is: Is this a terrorist attack?" Her sister, Christine Vigliotti of Floral Park, also was on the cruise and she said the first announcement had identified the speaker as the captain and then "went dead," Vigliotti said. "I thought we were being taken over by terrorists." Announcements by the captain and other staff over the public address system didn't end passenger fears, and so the captain came to the area where many passengers had gathered in a search for more information, according to de la Cruz. Still, some passengers were left with questions and concerns. "That's off the wall that somebody could get access to the system where they can make an announcement to the entire ship," said Martin Coven of Garden City Park, another passenger. De la Cruz said that there is not enough evidence to bring charges against anybody but that security measures she declined to specify have been taken. "This is the first time I've ever heard of anything like this happening," she said. "It was a thoughtless and inconsiderate act on someone's part. We have taken some actions to ensure that it never happens again."

This incident really did happen. I live in NYC and I have cruised several times( mostly with carnival,, 5 times) and I heard the story on the news. Radio news station 1010 wins aired it. I was shocked,,, I love Carnival, but if Carnival don't have cameras in such sensitive areas they should really install them. And if they do have them and cannot produce prictures of the person who made that announcement then I wonder if the Captain really did have a drink to many. By the way my next cruise will be Sept 2005 on Disney but you can bet your last dollar that it's back to Carnival after that.